Older Subaru’s Are Popular Among Car Thieves

17Jul2017

A number of car owners in the Portland, Oregon area have made a post on Facebook about their older Subaru cars (90s model) stolen.

One particular person who lives in Southeast Portland stated that she has a 1993 green Subaru Impreza which that was stolen right from her carport between Christmas Eve and Christmas at her apartment complex. She had been out buying a bunch of gifts and visiting her family. She came home and saw that her car was gone.

The 1998 Legacy and 1999 Impreza are among the two 90s model Subarus that are on Top 10 stolen cars list for 2015 in Oregon.

The meaning behind Subaru is ‘unite’ and it refers to the logo’s 6 stars that stand for the 6 FHI group united companies. The biggest star represents Fuji Heavy Industries that began business in Japan in 1917 as an aircraft research laboratory. Shortly after it moved to manufacturing airplanes.

The company then created the Fuji Rabbit scooter after WWII with the airplanes’ spare parts. The company divided up into different businesses shortly after that manufactured coaches, scooters, chassis and engines. Finally, Kenji Kita, the CEO thought that getting involved in car manufacturing was a good idea and created the Subaru 1500, the first Subaru car made in 1954.

As the 90s hit, the company slowly moved away from creating smaller vehicles and focused on the rally cars like the Impreza and Vivo. Different Impreza WRX versions won the world championship a handful of times.

Sherwood’s Horizontal Motor Sports works on repair and customization for Subarus. Steve Hamann, the co-owner, says the older Subaru models are easy to steal due to their less secure, older keys.

He goes on to say that anyone can break the car’s window, get inside it, defeat the ignition using a hammer or other tool and drive away fairly quickly.

The newer Subaru keys, however, have an encryption chip, Hamann says.

This encryption chip communicates with the car when you put the key in the ignition. If this code isn’t a match with your car’s computer, you can’t start up the car no matter what you do, he said.

For older car owners or Subaru owners, Hamann recommends you install a GPS tracking device so you can track and locate your car quickly if it’s been stolen. He says you can purchase one fairly cheap online.

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